NEWS\\\ News Roundup
Work is almost complete on the repair and redevelopment of freight handling facilities at St Peter Port Harbour on Guernsey. The £14m project included replacing four old cranes with two new ones, and extensive berth repairs and are part of a major overhaul of the harbour. The main freight area, berths 4 and 5 are both now back in operation for the first time in more than two years and the harbour’s two new mobile cranes can now be fully deployed at the same time. Contractors are now completing work on berth 6, which serves the neighbouring islands of Sark and Alderney.
The European Parliament’s Committee on Transport reopened discussions on the EU’s controversial Port Services Directive on 5 May. The Commission wishes to introduce competition in a number of services including pilotage, towage and bunkering, but not cargo handling, which led to demonstrations by dockers on the streets of Brussels when the previous version of the proposal was debated.
Specialist forwarder and logistics company GAC has opened a new quayside office in Great Yarmouth to meet the needs of the renewable energy sector in the Southern North Sea. Along with neighbouring Lowestoſt, Great Yarmouth has England’s largest concentration of offshore energy businesses and has been identified as one of the key locations for development. The area is also home to some of the UK’s largest renewable energy projects, including offshore wind farms at Gunfleet Sands and Thanet. GAC aims to offer renewable clients an integrated support package, including a quay for support vessels, ship agency, project logistics and warehousing.
GAC Netherlands will open an office at Schiphol on 15 June to offer air freight solutions and dedicated support for the North Sea oil and gas sector. The operation is headed by business unit manager Maurits Mostert. It has also opened a new branch at the Netherlands’ northernmost port, Den Helder to meet the needs of the on- and offshore energy industry. It is headed by Jurgen Polderman. Earlier, GAC opened a new office in Esbjerg, Denmark to tap into the oil and gas market.
Multipurpose shipping operators AAL and Peter Döhle are to join forces to offer joint tramp and project services. While the two carriers remain independent of each other, with separate ownership, operations and identities they will deploy and jointly represent a fleet of 26 ships ranging from 12,000, to 31,000 tonnes on key trade routes between Asia, Europe and the Americas. AAL will handle operations east of Suez and in the Americas and Peter Döhle will oversee activity in Europe and Africa.
The next stage of a £88.4 million project to improve access to the port of Immingham began on 20 May. A three-mile section of the A160 between the A180 and the Port of Immingham will be dualled along with improvements to junctions, a new roundabout and new bridges.
Peel Ports says that public reaction to its 20-year master plan for Sheerness has been overwhelmingly positive, according to the results of a community and stakeholder consultation programme for its proposals to expand the port estate. Nearly 300 people attended a series of consultation events in November and feedback forms suggested that 83% of respondents fully backed the proposals which include redeveloping a former steelworks site. Publication of the final master plan is expected in 2016.
Swiss construction toy maker Geomagworld has appointed Import Services to provide logistics support for its UK and Ireland expansion. Import Services, which currently operates in Southampton but will also run the new London Gateway common user facility due to open this month, will help the company switch from a UK distributor to selling direct to trade and provide Geomag with a complete port-centric service. This includes UK customs clearance through to bonded warehousing, high volume order processing and distribution throughout the UK and Ireland.
The US Government has liſted a ban on shipping services to Cuba and ferry services from Florida could be reintroduced for the first time in over 50 years, the BBC reports. Services
between the two
countries were halted by the US trade embargo on Cuba in 1960 but, with the restoration of diplomatic ties in December, the ban has now been liſted and a
to
Issue 4 2015 - Freight Business Journal
Sea US poised to allow ferries to Cuba again
number of ferry companies say they have been given licences. However, there may still be bureaucratic and operational hurdles
overcome
services can start. Potential operators include
United Americas Shipping Services in Miami – mainly a bulk and heavy liſt specialist
- and
Fort Lauderdale-based Havana Ferry Partners. The latter has set
before
up a Cuba Ferry International subsidiary which says it will be using a new technology to transport passengers and cargo with wave-piercing vessels offering “ample” freight, passenger and baggage space. The CMA CGM Group has
meanwhile signed an agreement to operate a logistics platform in cooperation with Cuban company, AUSA. The deal, the first of its
15
kind involving an international company, was signed by vice- chairman, Rodolphe Saadé in the presence of French president François Hollande, the President of the French Republic. It includes operation and development of a logistics platform at the port of Mariel and will be part of the local special economic zone project - a 4,600ha logistics and industrial project area.
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